The area around the small, bright crater Aristarchus (left of centre) in Oceanus Procellarum is one of the most colourful portions of the lunar surface. The large ragged ray systems at lower right surround the craters Copernicus and Kepler. (Rolf Hempel via Planetary.org) Hello, Mid-November Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of…
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My friend Alan Dyer of Alberta captured this spectacular image of a lone Geminids meteor streaking across an aurorae-filled sky on December 13, 2023. From Collingwood, Ontario I saw two terrific Geminids in one hour on December 14. Follow Alan’s @amazingskyguy account on X.com and visit his ww.amazingsky.com page for more. Hello, Start-of-Winter Stargazers! Here…
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This terrific composite image of the Geminids meteor shower in 2017 was taken by Alan Dyer of Alberta. The winter Milky Way descends through the centre and the bright patch at right is Orion’s belt and sword. More of Alan’s images can be viewed at his website https://amazingsky.photoshelter.com/index Hello, Mid-December Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy…
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Mirach’s Ghost aka NGC404 is the elliptical / lenticular galaxy sitting to the upper left of the bright star Mirach in Andromeda. Other smaller galaxies are scattered around the region. This terrific image by Kent Wood of Utah was the NASA APOD for Oct 27, 2017. Kent’s original image with details of his equipment is…
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NGC 457, better known as the Owl Cluster, ET Cluster, and Dragonfly Cluster, was imaged by “Astrodoc” Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario. The bright stars are the eyes. The body and feet extend down to the right. Squint to see the upswept, curving chains of stars for the wings.This image covers a finger’s width of…
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This image of Messier 13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules was imaged by Claudio Oriani in Richmond Hill, Ontario on May 30, 2023 using an 8″ SCT telescope. The cluster, also known as NGC 6205, is 24,000 light-years away from our sun. The cluster appears as a faint fuzzy patch in binoculars, and…
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A Close-up view of Mare Crisium when the terminator will be directly to its west on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 10 pm EDT. (Starry Night Pro) Hello, Summer Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 18th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and…
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This terrific image by Amir H. Abolfath was featured in NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for October 14, 2020. The bright star inside the orange zone at lower left is Antares in Scorpius. The big and bright globular cluster Messier 4 sits to its lower right. The pink region is glowing hydrogen gas…
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On Saturday, June 3, the full Strawberry Moon will rise at sunset. This simulation shows the moon at 10 pm local time. The bright reddish star to its upper right of the moon will be Antares, the “Rival of Mars” and the brightest star in Scorpius, the Scorpion. They’ll be cosy enough to share the…
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This image by Michael Watson of Toronto nicely captured earthshine on the waxing crescent moon after sunset on March 8, 2019. Michael’s terrific galleries of moon images are hosted on his Flickr page. Hello, May Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of May 21st, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass…
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